Australian Charts: Ed Sheeran 'Divide' Debuts At No 1

Ed Sheeran’s third album “÷ (Divide)” debuts at No.1 this week, becoming also his third No.1 album in Australia, and his second to debut at the top of the Australian Albums Chart, plus the set sold enough in its first week to debut as 2x▲Platinum in sales.

“÷ (Divide)” also sets another milestone by becoming the 800th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2017), and the 651st for ARIA (1983 to 2017), plus the 444th Album to debut in the No.1 position. This album is on the Asylum (through Warner) label, which makes this new No.1 the fourth for that record label, in fact the labels last No.1 album was with the 100th set, “The Long Run” by The Eagles (22nd October, 1979 for 3 wks), with the labels two other No.1 albums being “Hotel California” by The Eagles (17th Jan, 1977 for 12 wks) and “Simple Dreams” by Linda Ronstadt (13th Feb, 1978 fo 5 wks).

This is Ed’s third No.1 album as I mentioned at the top, and overall he has now amassed ten weeks at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart, placing him equal 67th of the list of “Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965 to 2017)’ alongside Coldplay, Silverchair and Kasey Chambers (from 5 #1’s), Human Nature (4 #1’s) Bruce Springsteen, Live, Missy Higgins (also with three #1 albums) with Dido and Paul McCartney (2 #1’s apiece). And on the list for “Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums; 2010’s’ he moves from seventh to sixth behind the eleven weeks that Eminem has achieved from his two No.1’s during this decade, and three weeks behind the 13 weeks achieved by Taylor Swift from her three No.1’s.

This is the first time that the word (or even symbol) ‘Divide’ has appeared in a No.1 album title, the closest such title would be Pink Floyd’s “The Division Bell” (3 wks from 17th April, 1994). This new No.1 also becomes the 150th No.1 album by an English act (solo, duo or group), and the 221st by a solo Male Artist (local or overseas) plus the first this year, and the first for an English solo singer since Passenger (3rd October, 2016). Plus on the list of ‘Most Weeks at No.1: Albums: English Solo Males’, Ed is now equal seventh, check out the list below:

Ed’s new album is not alone near the top of the chart this week, as his last album “x (Multiply)” (8 wks at #1) is back up three places to land at No.3, whilst his debut set “+(Positive)” (1 wk at No.1) leaps up thirteen places to No.4, placing all three of Ed’s albums within the Top 4 this week. Not to be outdone is Adele, who is touring Australia at the moment, which helps her third set “25” to rise to No.2 this week, whilst her second album “21” jumps up five places to No.5, and her debut set “19” is up eight spots to sit just outside of the Top 10 at No.12 this week. Her three albums have not been this high together since December 2015 when “25” first came out, and “21” was at No.7 and “19” was at No.13. This is the first time (that I could find) where two acts dominate the Top 5, we got close in July 2009 when Michael Jackson had the top 3 albums after his passing, and a fourth one within the Top 10, but not two acts and only two acts occupying the top five spots.

Outside of the Top 50 domination by Ed and Adele we see the “Trolls” soundtrack down a place to No.6, with the other Top 10 soundtrack this week being “Moana”, stable at No.9 for a third week. Last weeks No.1 debut for The Waifs in “Ironbark” drops six places to No.7, and then we see two new entries from local artists. New at No.8 is the debut album for Sydney four-piece folk act All Our Exes Live in Texas and “When We Fall”, whilst two places lower at No.10 is the second album for Melbourne three-piece rock band Kingswood and “After House, Close to Dawn”, which becomes also the bands second Top 10 entry, as their debut set “Microscopic Wars” entered and peaked at No.6 in September of 2014.

UP:
* Keith Urban’s “Ripcord” is back up six places to No.15 thanks to a new coloured vinyl edition (maybe).
* Justin Bieber kicked off his “Purpose” national tour here this past week, and his album zooms back up thirty-seven places to No.18.
* Kasey Chambers’ “Dragonfly” is back up six places to No.22, thanks to a vinyl release last week.
* Jessica Mauboy’s “The Secret Daughter” TV Soundtrack rises back up nine places to No.33, ahead of the albums re-packaging and re-issue as of Friday (10th March).
* Cold Chisel’s “All for You-The Best of” jumps up thirteen places to No.34.
* Train rebounds twenty-five places to No.42 with “A Girl, A Bottle, A Boat”.
* James Arthur is back up fourteen spots to No.55 with his “Back from the Edge” set.
* Currently Top 5 in New Zealand is the Daniel O’Donnell album “Back Home Again”, which here is up eight places to a new peak of No.72.
* The “Frozen” soundtrack rebounds seventeen places to land at No.75 this week.
* This past week SBS announced their Eurovision contestant for Australia in 2017’s competition as Isaiah Firebrand, whose debut self-titled X-Factor album returns at No.76 this week.
* Further returning albums occur for k.d. Lang’s “Recollection” (#83) after her recent 25th Anniversary “Inguene” concert tour was announced, “Lifelines” by I Prevail (#84), “Pure Heroine” by Lorde (#86, thanks to her new singles chart entry), Coldplay’s “4CD Catalogue Set” (#87), the “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1” Set (#90), Leon Bridges’ “Coming Home” (#93), the double pack for twenty one pilots in “Vessel”/”Blurryface” (#94), Michael Buble with “Nobody But Me” (#95), Fleetwood Mac and their “Greatest Hits” (#97), “Illuminate” by Shawn Mendes (#98) and Alison Krauss and her recent No.70 entry “Windy City” (#99).

DOWN:
* After only three weeks the second soundtrack from the series in “Fifty Shades Darker” (HP-1×1, WI10-3) leaves the Top 10, down three to No.11, whilst three of last weeks four Top 10 debuts fall out this week, “Flying Microtonal Banana” (HP-2, WI10-1) by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard falls nineteen places to No.21, “Bardo State” (HP-4, WI10-1) by Horrorshow plummets thirty-one spots to No.35 and tumbling thirty-six places to land at No.43 is “Paint” (HP-7, WI10-1) for Holy Holy.
* Stormzy who entered at No.11 with his debut album “Gang Signs & Prayer” falls thirteen places this week to No.24.
* The No.1 album from three weeks ago in “Postcards from the Shell House” by Busby Marou drops thirteen spots this week to No.27.
* After a surge and new peak at No.23 last week, the QSP album drops this week sixteen spots to No.39.
* Ryan Adams’ “Prisoner” set descends twenty-one spots to land at No.40.
* Falling nineteen places to No.53 are Midnight Oil and their “Essential Oils”, which will recoup once they start their national tour later in the year.
* The Guns N’ Roses set “Appetite for Destruction” drops ninteen places also, down to No.59.
* The Human Nature album “Jukebox Vol.II” is down sixteen places to No.62.
* George Michael is down eighteen places to No.63 with his first compilation “Ladies and Gentleman”, while his second comp “Twenty Five” is down nine to No.68.
* Last weeks entry for Little Big Town and “The Breaker” is down forty-one spots to No.67.
* The Trainspotting 2 soundtrack falls back down thirty-five places to No.69.
* After returning to the chart last week due to her promo tour, the Alessia Cara album “Know-it-All” drops down thirty-seven chart rungs to No.73 this week.
* Another return from last week which drops this week is the Hillsong Worship set “Let There Be Light”, down twenty-three to No.80, whilst the Hillsong Young & Free debut from last week in “Youth Revival Acoustic” plummets fifty-two places to No.89.
* The biggest tumble of the week is a seventy-eight place drop to #100 for “Loaded” (HP-22) by Christie Lamb.

NEW ENTRIES:
* #16 (LP#2) – Everything is Forgotten by Methyl Ethel is the Perth bands second album, and first to chart within the Top 100, their first set “Oh Inhuman Spectacle” failed to chart.
* #26 (Comp) – Remembrance by Various Artists, is a compilation of poems, letters and music from World War 1, with contributions by Alan Jones, Eric Bogle, Damien Leith and Colin Buchanan amongst its tracks.
* #41 (L#1/LP#3) – Here I Am Send Me (Live) by Darlene Zschech is the first Live album by the Hillsong Church group member, plus her third overall release, but first to chart nationally.
* #65 (LP#4) – Take Me to the Alley by Gregory Porter is the jazz musician and singers fourth studio album and first to chart here in Australia.

Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com